A few days back I wrote about the impetus for a Verizon iPhone launch in early 2011, mostly citing John Gruber from Daring Fireball. NPD just gave us a little information that could very well serve as more evidence of the impending release. The iOS market is actually shrinking, while Android is exploding. You don’t have to be a genius to see how a Verizon iPhone could change that, or at least help Apple’s position.

It’s not that Apple isn’t doing well – its market cap proves that it is – but Android is on so many more handsets now. From Peter Kafka at AllThingsD:

So how did Android gain share? Because it’s on so many other new phones. Canned quote from NPD’s Ross Rubin: “The HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide.”

My new iPhone showed up in the hands of a sweaty FedEx guy (it’s 100 degrees here today) right around 1PM and I’ve been playing with it ever since. The short version of this post, like so many other iPhone 4 posts, is this: The iPhone 4 is exactly what a smartphone should be – fast, (reasonably) flexible, and functional.

The first thing I noticed out of the box is the build. It feels so much more solid than the 3GS in your hand. It feels thin but heavy, like you’re holding something important, which is about how it should feel. Gone is the plastic from the back of the 3GS and in its place is a solid piece of glass – the same piece that graces the front. The volume buttons feel sturdy, as does the hold switch (a welcome change from the 3GS hold switch, which feels like it’s on the verge of breaking every time I flick it). I also love that the phone now sits flat on my desk.

The next thing to catch my eye was the screen. Dear god it is beautiful. You can appreciate the difference between the two immediately, but you really start to understand the difference when you look at the smaller details. When I installed iOS 4 on my 3GS I was excited, but I was a little underwhelmed by some of the display features. In folders, for instance, many of the app icons look blurry and out of focus. Not so on the iPhone 4. Icons look just as crisp within the folder as they do on any of your app screens.

The iPhone 4 is fast. A lot faster than the 3GS it seems, most likely because of the RAM upgrade from 256MB to 512MB. That’s especially nice with the fast app-switching in iOS 4. The faster processor also allows you to pull off the 720p video recording that now comes standard. Video looks great, as do stills, running through the new 5 megapixel camera, which added a flash.

Call quality has been improved with the addition of a noise-canceling secondary microphone. I haven’t yet been able to test FaceTime but as soon as I can I’ll post some more impressions.

If you’re on the fence about the new iPhone, get to an Apple store and play with one. Though I knew I wanted one, I couldn’t appreciate the new feature set until I actually saw it. Now, I’m in love.

This is just getting ridiculous – after this morning’s report that the iPhone 4 had shipped for many pre-orderers, there’s now news that some consumers have had their iPhone 4 pre-orders inexplicably cancelled. Here’s what the emails say:

Your iPhone order has been cancelled.

Your credit card has not been charged.

If you believe you have received this email in error, please return to the AT&T store where you placed your order.

Sincerely,
AT&T

I’m thinking my initial response would be “Yeah, this is in error. I ordered the damn phone on day one. My order shouldn’t be cancelled without reason.” After many people talked to both AT&T and Apple, it seems there were either authentication issues on AT&T’s end or we just don’t really have a reason for things being cancelled.

Anyone actually think launch day will be a success? As it stands, I’m guessing I’ll be using my 3GS for another month because AT&T’s activation server is going to explode.

I woke up this morning to an email from the Apple Store with the above message. The iPhone 4 has started shipping to customers across the country. My phone is currently in Lantau Island, HK.

Though my own estimated delivery date is the 24th, some people have reported estimated deliveries for the 23rd. Apple will likely issue do-not-ship commands for Fed-Ex to keep the phone from releasing early. It always seems like someone screws those up, though, so maybe you’ll be lucky and get your iPhone 4 a day early.

I woke up early this morning all excited to pre-order my iPhone 4. I was up a bit late last night and noticed that the store was down, and with the iPad, pre-orders were available around 8:30am EST, so I planned accordingly. Much to my chagrin, the online system at Apple wasn’t working. Neither was the AT&T system. In fact, it seems the whole pre-ordering process has melted down.

I started digging around the web to find other experiences, and even the people in brick-and-mortar stores are having trouble pre-ordering. The problem, it seems, is on AT&T’s end (who’s surprised?). Requests for account information aren’t being handled properly, and presumably because of the massive traffic AT&T is receiving, every step of the upgrade process is causing errors. As in, you fill out the data for step one (which renews your contract), press enter and get an error. Resubmit until it goes through. Now you have a new contract, but no subsidized phone until you can get step two or three to work.

This especially sucks for the people in brick-and-mortar stores. Cross step one and you’re stuck in the store until AT&T’s system deems you worthy to leave or, as I mentioned, you get a renewed contract but no new phone. Hopefully this will get fixed at some point today, but knowing AT&T, that’s not going to happen. If you have a couple hours to kill and feel like testing your boiling point, head on out to your nearest AT&T retailer for a little fun.